Matt Eberflus went 10-24 in his first two years as head coach of the Chicago Bears.
This season, the team entered a new era: gone with quarterback Justin Fields, and replaced with quarterback Caleb Williams, who the Bears selected No. 1 overall. Owner believed in Eberflus enough to give him more time to prove he is a championship-level coach.
And perhaps Eberflus will turn out to be just that.
If he does, he’ll have to overcome — quickly — Sunday’s late-game coaching and team execution crisis, which not only led to an 18-15 loss to Washington and dropped the Bears to 4-3 on the season. , but has the potential to stick around in the locker room and define the season.
Eberflus must ensure that the final two games of defeat do not define his coaching career.
To recap, Washington had the ball, first and ten, on their own 35 yard line with just six seconds left with no timeouts. Chicago led 15-11, so Washington needed a touchdown.
The Commanders were too far from the end zone for a Hail Mary, but had just enough time left to get 8, 10, 12 yards and get out of bounds and attempt a final heave.
Chicago went into the Hail Mary coverage anyway and issued the short sideline, which Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and quarterback Jayden Daniels took advantage of. They got the ball to Terry McLaurin on the left side for 13 yards in four seconds. Now they were on the edge of the Hail Mary range – their own 48 – with two seconds left.
After the game, Eberflus shrugged off the decision not to defend the short sideline, as many teams do.
“You’re defending the touchdown there,” the coach said. “And whether they throw the ball 13 yards or 10 yards, whatever that is, it doesn’t really matter. It will always come down to that last play.”
Those 13 yards were important, though, because Daniels can’t throw a ball 75-80 yards – as would have been necessary before. Ignoring the importance is undermined by Eberflus standing on the sideline in front of the offense, waving at a cornerback to move up, instead of defending 60 yards down the field.
Chicago also had three timeouts and could have used one to readjust the defense. Instead, the Bears conceded field position.
Then came the last part where the following mistakes were made:
1. Only three defenders rushing. This allowed Washington to double every pass rusher and allowed Daniels to move into the pocket and buy 13 seconds – 13! – because his receivers not only get all the way down the field, but actually adapt and can all come together around the final pass.
Just a week earlier, Detroit faced a similar situation: Minnesota had the ball alone and needed a silver bullet. Lions coach Dan Campbell rushed five, including three from the left side, to force Vikings right-handed quarterback Sam Darnold to move to his left and make every possible throw difficult. Not that it mattered, Darnold was quickly sacked before any Viking receiver could get anywhere near the end zone.
Detroit won.
2. Spying on Daniels. Chicago actually had a fourth defenseman stick close to the line of scrimmage and only dropped seven defensive backs. Linebacker TJ Edwards, however, never rushed and instead seemed to contain Daniels. Was there a concern that Daniels might scramble 52 yards – past seven Bears down the field?
Why not rush four or drop eight? You either force two one-on-one pass rush scenarios – instead of none – or you get another body in the end zone that may have prevented this disaster.
Instead, the Bears essentially played 10 on 11.
3. Tyrique Stevenson. The cornerback was seen with his back to the game, taunting the Washington fans before the ball was snapped.
Is it a lot to ask of a head coach to see that, call a timeout and get everyone focused again? Maybe, but this is the NFL.
He actually continued to do that for four seconds of the game, leaving him distracted and out of position by the time the ball reached the goal line.
“To Chicago and teammates, I apologize for the lack of awareness and focus,” Stevenson wrote on social media. “The game isn’t over until the clock hits zero. I can’t take anything for granted. Notes taken, there will be improvement.”
At least Stevenson took his share of the blame. The head coach, who might also have hammered these “notes” into the team’s heads before the game, still hasn’t done so.
4. Positioning. Eberflus was confused about how the cover failed. Washington had three receivers converge on the pass, which landed at about the 2-yard line. They had another receiver a few yards in front of that scrum in case the ball was knocked forward, and one – Brown – a few yards behind in case the ball veered in that direction.
This is a pretty standard Hail Mary play. Except Chicago double-covered the frontman and sent five players into the mass of humanity, leaving Brown all alone in the end zone.
Eberflus said Monday that it was Stevenson, the defensive back interacting with fans, who had to do deep contain (i.e. cover Brown).
“We’ve practiced that part a hundred times since we’ve been here,” Eberflus said. “And again, I’ll have to look at what the execution of it was, but we’ve got a body on the body that’s boxing guys out. like basketball at the very end. We have one guy hitting the ball downfield. We have a guy with a back tip that goes behind the pile.
They clearly have to practice for the 101st time. Or Eberflus had to use a timeout to remind them. Either way, the knives are out among the Bears fans and if Eberflus wants to last in Chicago, he needs to make sure the mood and morale in the locker room aren’t the same.
“Our guys believe in each other, trust each other, have confidence in each other,” Eberflus said. “They are a resilient bunch. They will come back more determined.”
He better hope so.
